LAUGHING AT OR WITH?
ALSO INSIDE:
UNL faculty, Lincoln residents weigh in on homosexual stereotypes in comedy routines, other media PAGE 5
··Students share their favorite music PAGE 2 ··How to handle a bad roommate PAGE 6
wednesday, january 11, 2012
volume 111, issue 078
DAILY NEBRASKAN dailynebraskan.com
Ten journalism students take photography trip to Kyrgyzstan during break
T
en University of NebraskaLincoln journalism students returned from a winter break in-depth reporting trip in Kyrgyzstan. They recorded the sights and sounds, but say they will never forget the smells, emotions and lessons. Brianna Soukup said she felt a bit jet-lagged this week having returned to Nebraska Jan. 8 after three weeks in Kyrgyzstan. The junior Spanish and journalism major was one of the UNL photojournalists, along with associate professor Bruce Thorson and graduate student Brian Lehmann, who spent their winter breaks in the central Asian country documenting some of its poorest areas. The trip was sponsored by the Buffett-Mangelsen-Sartore endowment. The endowment has allowed photojournalists from UNL to travel to places like South Africa, Kazakhstan and Kosovo. Students selected for the trip completed Thorson’s upper-level photography class and were chosen based on their skill level, personality and character, Thorson said. The mission of these trips is to document emerging countries with great human need, ensuring the students leave with more than great photos, he said. “They come back and their lives are changed,” said Thorson. “They realize how easy it is to live in the United States and how comfortable we are.” Kyrgyzstan is a place Thorson has wanted to take students for a while. The trip had originally been planned for May 2010 but was pushed back due to instability in the country. The photojournalists spent their time in Kyrgyzstan working on different assignments. Topics ranged from Siamese twins, women’s issues, settlement houses and coal mining, among others. Soukup teamed up with senior news-editorial major Patrick Breen to cover homelessness. Their coverage introduced them to a man and woman who lived together in a concrete hole in the ground. They also met people suffering from severe burns after falling asleep on hot water pipes in an attempt to stay warm at night.
story by emily nitcher photo by patrick breen daily nebraskan
Above: Outside Bishkek, a man stands atop a mountain of trash at the Bishkek Landfill. More than 200 people make their livings by taking glass and bottles to a recycling center nearby. The average income is 200 som a day. The people, who live well below the poverty line in Bishkek, build fires in the landfill for warmth while they work during the winter months.
photo by brianna soukup daily nebraskan
Right: A homeless man lies on one of the many beds in the single room all the homeless share in Hospital No. 4 in Bishkek. He is one of 11 other patients in the hospital room who suffer from frostbite, severe burns or tuberculosis.
kyrgyzstan: see page 3
New chemistry labs encourage collaboration
»faculty » senate
Meeting explores UNL women’s status Jacy Marmaduke Daily Nebraskan
The topic of women’s status issues at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln took center stage at the first Faculty Senate meeting of the semester. Discussions about the Chancellor’s Commission on the Status of Women took about a third of the Jan. 10 session in the East Campus Union. Melanie Simpson, an associate professor of biochemistry and faculty council chair for the Chancellor’s Commission on the Status of Women, took to the podium. Simpson stressed that there is not enough faculty mentorship at UNL, which she said tends to have a more negative effect on female than male faculty members. Mary Anne Holmes is a professor of practice in the Earth and Atmospheric Sciences Department and director of ADVANCE-Nebraska,
jones page 4
which promotes women in the STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) fields. Holmes spoke about the importance of women faculty members achieving tenure. Both Holmes and Simpson said women struggle to achieve careers in the STEM fields. However, according to Holmes, the proportion of women with Ph.D.s in the STEM fields is rapidly increasing. “Many of you probably respond the way I did – ‘Why? It’s 2012; do we really have to consider this?’” said Concetta DiRusso, a professor of biochemistry and chair of the ADVANCE-Nebraska Faculty Committee. “But in practice, there are very few women in STEM professions. So we really aren’t represented. We have to look at our practices.” Additionally, members heard reports from UNL president James Milliken, the
Department of Intercollegiate Athletics, the University Teaching Council and the University Curriculum Committee at the meeting. Milliken started off the meeting with a list of key concerns, including state funding for higher education, student graduation rates — the fouryear rate has increased while the school’s six-year rate “falls below its peers” — and priorities for the current legislative session. Milliken said the university’s top priority for the current session is the allocation of funds for a nursing education facility in Lincoln. The facility could help the state meet a growing need for nursing professionals and allow the university to accept more applicants for nursing education programs. Ultimately, according the Milliken, UNL should prioritize drawing in more students.
“On almost every basis, I can think of no reasons why we would want to be smaller,” Milliken said. “Compared to the size of every other Big Ten school, with the exception of one private one, we are significantly smaller.” The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics reported on the committee’s recent actions, which included resolving schedule conflicts between athletics and a few major-specific classes. They also worked toward a fair policy when athletes suffer concussions from sports and must return to school. The University Curriculum Committee (UCC) and Teaching Council had little to report, although Brian Moore, an associate professor of music education and chair of the UCC did discuss instituting a mentoring program for faculty members.
student life page 5
Larry Brown Daily Nebraskan
Freshman chemistry students at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln will have a brand new environment in which to learn. The chemistry department at Hamilton Hall unveiled a new chemistry lab this semester for its current freshman class. The new lab has been under construction since December 2010. According to Mark Griep, vice chairman for the Department of Chemistry at UNL, an update was necessary to foster more communication and collaboration. “We had come to a point where the space we had
jacymarmaduke@ dailynebraskan.com
Basketball page 10
Reflections on turning 20
‘Roots-rock’ plays Lincoln
Still searching
an age for thinking about the future, dreaming big
moreland & arbuckle discuss music, zoo bar show
Huskers look for first Big Ten win against Penn State
@dailyneb | facebook.com/dailynebraskan
The new lab design will help implement the new curriculum the way it was designed.” eric malina
associate chemistry professor
was not very flexible,” Griep said. According to Griep, the previous lab design was not conducive to student collaboration because students were paired on benches instead of the “islands” that now make up the lab space.
chemistry: see page 2
Weather | cloudy
37°13°